This invention relates to systems and methods for developing and implementing a workflow management system. More specifically, this invention relates to a contact management system for tracking debtor information in a debt collection system.
Businesses and individuals use conventional workflow management and contact management systems to manage workgroups and to track contacts and results with a particular group of individuals. For example, salespeople use contact management systems for tracking the names, addresses, contacts, progress and results with their customers. Individuals use contact management systems for tracking and maintaining information on their friends and acquaintances. Organizations use workflow management systems to manage and distribute the work performed by each individual in the organization.
One contact management system currently available under the trade name ACT! (Symantec Corp., Calif.) provides a conventional contact management system which tracks contacts in a database structure. In use, a sales person keeps a database of potential customers within the ACT! contact database and, using the software, set alarms and flags for managing phone calls, letters and other communications with the potential customer.
Within ACT!, the sales person is presented with a screen displaying the name, address and other pertinent information about the customer to be contacted. The ACT! database can be sorted so that, once a salesperson has made contact with a customer, the next screen that is displayed includes the name and contact information for the next customer to be called. For example, the sales person could sort the contact database for all customers who had not been called within the last three months. A first screen is then displayed to the sales person of the first customer that had not been called within the last three months. Once the sales person has called this first customer, a next screen is displayed having the name and contact information for the next customer that had not been called in the previous three months. This process repeats until the sales person calls all of the customers that had not been contacted within the last three months. Virtually all conventional contact management systems function in a similar manner.
Unfortunately, conventional contact management systems suffer from several disadvantages. One disadvantage relates to the difficulty users have in categorizing their contacts. While conventional contact management systems provide several fields that can be used to sort the contacts into a particular order, it can be very difficult for a user to understand the overall structure of lists generated in this manner. This is due to the format of conventional contact management systems, wherein only lists of contacts are provided to the users. Thus, a need exists for a simple system for conveying to a user of a contact management system the types and number of contacts within particular categories of their system.
Included within the category of contact management systems are debt collection systems. Companies and debt collection businesses use these systems to contact debtors that owe money. Originally, collectors were charged with collecting from purchased, placed or randomly assigned debtor accounts. The collectors could organize hard copy files in a prescribed or selected manner, and would be relied upon for collecting from debtors in an appropriate sequence. Unfortunately, such manual systems failed to ensure that deadlines, such as those dictated by 34 CFR. 682.410(b), were met. Moreover, manual systems required heavy investments in time to organize and prioritize physical files, in addition to depending upon the judgment of individual collectors.
The advent of the computer enabled automation of file organization and prioritizing. Furthermore, automation presented the opportunity to eliminate the risk of improper prioritization. By incorporating a variety of account information in databases, accounts in prior systems could be sequenced according to selected criteria, and collection access to accounts restricted to that sequence, thus ensuring that the accounts are handled in the desired sequence.
For example, the COLLECTOR SYSTEM (Columbia Ultimate, Vancouver, Wash.) is a Microsoft Windows compatible software program that includes a series of windows for displaying information on debtors. The COLLECTOR SYSTEM includes a work-in-process list (WIP list), which displays the debtors"" accounts in the order they are to be contacted by the collector. A collection manager who oversees a pool of debt collectors normally sets the order that the debtors are to be contacted. Normally, a manager of this type of system chooses the list of debtors to be contacted by a particular collector. This chosen list of debtors is thereafter transmitted to the collector and the collector contacts the debtors in sequential order. Thus, the collector has very little control over which accounts are contacted at any particular time.
Unfortunately, this type of forced contact with debtors does not provide the flexibility that would be advantageous to a debt collector. The collections manager or automated collection system conventionally forces the order in which debtors are contacted upon the collector so that the manager can retain control over which accounts are being contacted.
In addition, there is no system in the prior art that easily conveys the overall status of all debtor accounts assigned to each collector. The collector may have no idea how many accounts are past due, under administrative wage garnishment, or require a follow up phone call. While many systems allow generation of reports listing specific information, no overall picture of the debtors accounts and the actions required on those accounts were provided.
Similarly, in workflow management contexts, it is challenging for an organization to manage the flow of work between many different individuals. Moreover, the status of each project, product design and actual product manufacturing is often difficult to assess at a glance. Rather complex data compilation or report generation is typically required before such status is clear. For example, a semiconductor fabrication facility might have many people responsible for various stages of the manufacturing process.
Thus, a need exists for a more flexible workflow management system to allow the organization to move and schedule complicated projects between each individual that is part of a large project. In satisfaction of this need, the present invention provides a workflow management system that efficiently transfers work from one individual to another. In addition, managers are able to graphically determine who is responsible for a project at any stage of development. Desirably, the system is configured to not only transfer work throughout individuals in an organization, but the system can also display status information derived from a database, and manipulate or update the database as work is performed.
In an exemplary contact management context, one contact might be managed by several individuals. One individual might be responsible for calling the contact on the telephone after a particular due date has passed, whereas a different individual might be responsible for sending a letter to the contact after a due date has passed. Aspects of the system include provisions for moving client records between different individuals in the organization in order to manage the work performed by these individuals. Thus, the system has the ability to identify particular actions (such as sending a letter) that need to be performed, and thereafter assigning that task to the appropriate individual in the organization.
Accordingly, in one aspect of the invention, a workflow management system is provided, wherein the workflow management system includes at least one table comprising fields for storing names of contacts and a category identifier that identifies one or more categories associated with the names of contacts; a display generator that outputs a graphical display comprising a plurality of category indicia, wherein each category identifier corresponds to a category indicia; and instructions for displaying a list of the names of the contacts in each category, wherein the instructions are enabled when the display generator is outputting a graphical display to a computer monitor.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a computerized debt collection system is provided. The debt collection system includes at least one table that includes fields for storing names of debtors, a category identifier that identifies one or more categories associated with the names of debtors and a collectability ranking for each debtor; and a display generator that outputs a graphical display comprising a plurality of category indicia, wherein each category identifier corresponds to a category indicia.
Yet another embodiment of the invention is a computerized debt collection system, that includes at least one table that includes a field for storing a name of a debtor and a field for storing a category identifier that identifies one or more categories associated with the name of the debtor; a display generator that outputs a graphical display comprising a plurality of category indicia, wherein each category identifier corresponds to a category indicia; and instructions for changing the category identifier associated with the name of the debtor in response to an event.
Still one additional embodiment of the invention is a computerized debt collection system that includes at least one table that includes a field for storing a name of a debtor and a field for storing a category identifier that identifies one or more categories associated with the name of the debtor; and a menu system that includes menu choices that, when selected, associates the name of a debtor with a category.